Please do not shoot me down in flames...

[purplepolly]

Just make sure you get the right size. BTW unless you are petite then a mans bike should fit just as well and will give you more choice..

That would be true if the body proportions were similar but women have longer legs and a shorter abdomen (and arms are in proportion to the abdomen). So if you took a man and a woman with the same inside leg then the woman would usually be shorter overall and have less reach, so for most women a mans bike has too far a reach to the handlebars.

 

[wafflycat]

That would be true if the body proportions were similar but women have longer legs and a shorter abdomen (and arms are in proportion to the abdomen). So if you took a man and a woman with the same inside leg then the woman would usually be shorter overall and have less reach, so for most women a mans bike has too far a reach to the handlebars.

I doubt that very much. I'm not exactly tall (5'6"/5'7") and don't need a women-specific frame. Indeed the bike I have that I am most comfortable on is a standard diamond frame, a 'man's bike' I'm trying very hard to think of any of the women cyclists I know (& I know quite a few due to being involved in club/racing/social riding scene) who have felt they need a women-specific frame, and it's only the ones who are around the 5'/5'2" mark that have gone that route.

Edit: the major advantage I can see of getting a women-specific frame is that you tend to be able to get them in more of a feminine paint-jobbie than standard frames, which can be quite nice.

 

[wafflycat]

If it were really *needed* and a demand for it.., but as I say, very few of the women cyclists I know have felt the *need* for a women-specific bike - only the petite ones. Put it this way, it's not been on the women-cyclists' topic for gossip that we can't get bikes to fit, or that the bikes (standard diamond frames) we have are uncomfortable.

 

[purplepolly]

I'm trying very hard to think of any of the women cyclists I know (& I know quite a few due to being involved in club/racing/social riding scene) who have felt they need a women-specific frame, and it's only the ones who are around the 5'/5'2" mark that have gone that route..

it's not really the few women who do cycle that you should be looking at but the ones who tried and gave up, I gave up for some years because I was uncomfortable with the fit but now commute regularly with a bike that has shorter reach.

 

[wafflycat]

it's not really the few women who do cycle that you should be looking at but the ones who tried and gave up, I gave up for some years because I was uncomfortable with the fit but now commute regularly with a bike that has shorter reach.

Presumably the ones I know, who are all fairly normal folk (don't have arms of an orangutan), and have not felt the need for a women-specific frame would have gone for one if they had needed it. If you need one, fine, but that's not the same as "for most women a mans bike has too far a reach to the handlebars."

 

[purplepolly]

Presumably the ones I know, who are all fairly normal folk (don't have arms of an orangutan), and have not felt the need for a women-specific frame would have gone for one if they had needed it. If you need one, fine, but that's not the same as "for most women a mans bike has too far a reach to the handlebars."

OK I was generalising too much, not all women are the same, but all I was doing was pointing out that women do not have the same skelatal structure as men. Is it not possible to make any valid point here without someone jumping down your throat and getting the capitals out?

 

[wafflycat]

OK I was generalising too much, not all women are the same, but all I was doing was pointing out that women do not have the same skelatal structure as men. Is it not possible to make any valid point here without someone jumping down your throat and getting the capitals out?

1. I'm not having a go at you, I just have a different opinion.

2. I haven't got the capitals out, so I'm not 'jumping down your throat' as you put it.

If you, or anyone else wnats to buy a women-specific bike, fair enough, that's your prerogative, I was simply saying that of all the women I know who cycle, there's only a small proportion who actually *need* a women-specific is not as high as you perhaps think there is from your previous comments.

 

[soulful dog]

If I'd known about the Subway when I was looking for my bike I'd have probably bought it new rather than my second hand Claude Butler, as it seems to get plenty of praise. Although.....

BTW unless you are petite then a mans bike should fit just as well and will give you more choice. Certainly a better machine for a 16 mile commute plus it will take mudguards and a rack and will cover your needs pretty well. I agree it's a nice price.

Get a decent lock. Any reasonable bike might attract theives.

If you are comfy on your old bike, I wouldn't bother. Carerra Subway's seem to be a magnet for bicycle thieves and I strongly doubt, loaded up, it will be that much lighter than your current bike.

I tooled around on an 90s Raleigh something or other MTB with slick tyres/rack/mudguards for quite some time. In eighteen months of almost daily use I think I only had to fettle it once.

...at the same time this sort of makes me glad I didn't - it'd probably have been nicked by now!

On a related note to do with choosing the mens instead of the ladies version, is a ladies bike a bit less likely to get stolen? Although perhaps more to do with bikes with step through frames?

Just to say something contentious, there's a GT currently on the For Sale board, that would be much, much better and you'll get for less than this. Although I'm sure you'd probably be better served by a touring bike.

This one? Is that GT Tequesta really a much better bike, even though it's maybe a few years older?

 

[Fab Foodie]

That would be true if the body proportions were similar but women have longer legs and a shorter abdomen (and arms are in proportion to the abdomen). So if you took a man and a woman with the same inside leg then the woman would usually be shorter overall and have less reach, so for most women a mans bike has too far a reach to the handlebars.

Proportionally men and women are the same on average.
IIRC Mike Burrows used research data that showed this when he came up with the original Compact frames in 3 sizes for Giant. Unfortunately I have lost the link for this over the years.

 

[summerdays]

I don't think it being a ladies frame would stop them from nicking it... I quite often see men on ladies step through frames... - in some cases it could be for mobility reasons, but the ones being ridden on the estates on the pavement don't look as if that is their excuse.

If I have a short torso and yet long arms... is the overall effect make it average? (yes I am closely related to an oragatan)

 

[LondonCommuter]

I had a subway 8 until the hub gears self-destructed. I liked it, but it really jarred over bumps and it was VERY heavy. For some reason the link you posted is taking forever to load so I can't actually see what you are looking at

 

[Pompey Princess]

SO, after all the heated debate about frame sizing, nickability etc, do I get one or what??

 

[fossyant]

A big fat YES !

 

[Pompey Princess]

Why Fos ??

 

[wafflycat]

Do you like the bike? Does it fit you? Is it the sort of bike suitable for the kind of cycling you intend to do? Can you afford it? If so - go for it, as it matters not what other folk think of your bike - if it suits you, that's what counts.